Refrigerating machine



Dec. 2, 1930. F. FOLILNN 1,783,454

REFRIGERATING MACHINE Filed Jun' so, 1926 I I INj/ENT R Patented Dec. 2,1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RAOUL FERDINAND FOLLAIN', or GOLOMIBES,FRANCE, ASSIGNOR 'ro soorn'rn IANONYME,

POUR LEXPLOITATION DES rRooEDns FRANCE MAURICE LEBLANCVICKERS, 01 PARIS,

REFRIGERATING MACHINE Application filed June 30, 1926, Serial No.

My invention relates to a refrigerating machine intended to obtaineconomically great differences in temperature of the type which operatesby direct evaporation of water or other liquid in a vacuum.

The advantages inherent in the series cooling method, when employed inplants to produce great differences in the temperature are well known tothose skilled in the art, and these are due to the saving in power inthe operation of the compressors, which are the same in number as thereare stages in the series system, thus offering a marked reduc tion inthe ratio of compression of the devices employed.

Refrigerating machines are known, which operate by the evaporation ofwater in a vacuum and are constituted by a series of evaporators inwhich the temperature and pressure decrease from one to the other andwhich are traversed in series in the said direction by the liquid to becooled by evaporation, each evaporator being associated with thecorresponding condenser of a series of condensers in which a differentpressure and, temperature exists at each stage and which are traversedin series by the condensing water in a direction from the coolest to thehottest.

In the apparatus according to my invention the condensers are of thespray or jet type and are superposed in an inverse order to that of theevaporators with which they are respectively associated, the coolestcondenser being located at the highest stage and the condensing waterflowing naturally from one condenser into the next following one. Bythis arrangement it is ossible to eliminate all motive ower which wouldotherwise be required or circulating the water or other liquid in thecondensers, thus resulting in considerable economy.

The accompanying drawing is a diagrammatic View of an embodiment of myinvention illustrating by way of example the principle upon which it isbased.

In the drawing the arrangement of the evaporators a, b, a, thecondensers l, m, n, and the compression apparatus 2', y, k, shown by wayof example as steam e] ectors, might 119,599, and in France October 14,1925.

of pumps will be eliminated.

Devices are interposed'between the several evaporators which assure thefree circulation of the liquid to be cooled from one evaporator to theother, while at the same time maintaining the individuality of thevacuum required for each stage of the process.

An arrangement such as the liquid seals p 9 corresponds exactly to theseconditions.

When discharged from the lower evaporator a, the completely cooledliquid may be withdrawn by the usual means, either on the barometricprinciple or by the pump 7'.

The condensers Z m'n offer the particular feature that they aresuperposed, and this allows the use of a common amount of water which iscirculated through the said condensers in series. The condensers are ofthe spray or jet type, the free circulation of the condensed water fromone condenser to the other is assured by a device analogous to what isprovided for the circulation of the liquid to be cooled through theevaporator for instance the liquid seals p g.

This arrangement does not exclude the possibllity of supplying at anyof-the aforesaid stages of condensation a certain amount of fresh water,should it be necessary to reduce the tension prevailing in any one ofthe condensers.

Another important feature of the plant consists in the methodical orderin which the the compressor 71 used with the warmest evaporator maydeliver into the warmest condenser without inconvenience.

The compressors used with the intermediate evaporators are connectedupon the same principle; in the case of a plant comprising threeevaporators, the compressor 7' used with the middle evaporator b willdeliver directly into the middle condenser m.

At the discharge end of the lower condenser n, the hot water iswithdrawn by means known per se, such as a suitable pump 8 or the usualbarometric tube. v

The vacuum for the condensers is produced by means of air-extractingapparatus of a suitable type, for instance steam ejectors, characterizedby a special arrangement of ejectors in series comprising as manyejectors on the upper side 25 u o as there are condensers in operation;these condensers are operated in parallel and discharge at a commonpressure which is maintained by a compression stage w common to thediflerent ejectors on the upper side, and this combination willeconomically assure the vacuum in the several stages of condensation.

The air with-drawing apparatus thus disposed might be provided withauxiliary condensers which are supplied in any suitable manner.

A simple air withdrawing apparatus of any type may be employed toproduce the vacuum in the whole number of condensers in use. In thisevent, the air withdrawing apparatus takes the air from the coldestcondenser, and the air extracted from the warmest condenser will rejointhis same condenser by passing through the intermediate condenser orcondensers in which it becomes cooled, and thus attains the coldestcondenser at the minimum volume, from which, as above disclosed, it istaken off by the air withdrawing apparatus- In operation, the liquid tobe cooled enters the first of the series of superposed evaporators,where, due to the vacuum caused by the steam ejector 6, part of thewater is evaporated and the remaining water somewhat cooled. When acertain predetermined level of water has been reached in thisevaporator, the liquid seal p opens and allows the partially cooledwater to enter the next evaporator or zone b in the form of a spray.Again the partial evaporation and resulting cooling occurs. This processis continued until the proper temperature of liquid is obtained. Thecentrifugal pump r motor or engine driven, circulates this cooled waterfrom the last evaporator through a series of pipes which may passthrough brine or other material to be cooled, and after it has taken upthe heat of the substances to be cooled, the water again enters theevaporators at d. The liquid vaporized in each evaporator is withdrawnfrom the evaporator by means of the vacuum maintained by the associatedsteam ejectors i, j or see Flg. 2,

tively. Here cold water from the line a is sprayed upon the vaporentering the condenser Z. Air in the condenser is exhausted by theassociated steam ejector 'v. The entering vapor and water strike thespray of cool water, and condensation of the vapor re- 7 sults. Thisvapor in condensing will give up a certain amount of heat which isimparted to the water. When a certain predetermined level of water hasbeen attained in the con denser Z, the liquid seal 12' opens and permitsthe condensate to enter the next condenser m of the series in a sprayand again the process is repeated for the vapor entering this condenserm from the second evaporation zone G, and this operation is repeated onthe third condenser 12..

One condenser is rovided for each evaporator and a centri ugal pump S,driven by the same power unit as that of the cooled water circulationpump 0", will drive the said condensate back to the storage tank to beused again when needed in the cycle of operations.

By connecting the coolest evaporator to the coolest condenser and theWarmest evapo- 9 rator to the warmest condenser, the relativetemperatures of the condensers and evaporators are employed in the mosteilicient manner to assist in maintaining the required vacuum on theevaporators and to appreciably lower the work required by the ejectorssuch as j or i, and la. It also provides a further saving of energy byallowing a low velocity ejector to be connected between the warmestevaporator and condenser, and a higher velocity for the exhausting ofvapor from the coldest evaporator to the coldest condenser. This,together with the liquid seals provides individuality of vacuum in eachcondenser and each evaporator.

Due account can thus be taken of the considerable saving of power, steamand water afforded by the above-described plant, whose construction willnot strictly depend upon what is shown in the drawings, these beinggiven by way of example. In particular, the number of evaporators andcondensers comprised in the plant may be as desired.

Obviously, the means above disclosed may be employed separately or incombination without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

It is evident that the compressors, evaporators and condensers may be ofany suitable type or construction, and the two last-mentioned apparatusmay consist of horizontal instead of vertical cylindrical bodies. Thenungier of these apparatus may also be as desire Hill What I claim is:

1. In a refrigeration machine, of evaporators, a plurality of superposedcondensers, direct series connection of said condensers so that thecondensate and cooling water will flow from one 'to the other bygravity, liquid seals between said connections for providingindividuality of vacuum between said condensers.

a plurality 2. A refrigeration apparatus having a v series ofevaporators and a jet condenser for each of said evaporators, eachcondenser provided with an air exhausting apparatus consisting of steamejectors discharging into a common ejector which discharges the air at acommon pressure to the atmosphere.

3. In a refrigeration machine, of superposed evaporators, a plurality ofsuperposed condensers associated therewith, a connection between thehighest evaporator and the lowest condenser, and a connection betweenthe lowest evaporatorand the highest condenser, an ejector in eachconnection and an ejector associated with each condenser leading to acommon ejector.

4. In a refrigeration machine, three superposed evaporators, threesuperposed condensers associated therewith, a communicating connectionbetween said highest evaporator and lowest condenser, between saidlowest evaporator and said highest condenser, and between saidintermediate evaporator and condenser, and liquid seals between saidindividual evaporators and condensers.

5. In a refrigeration machine three superposed evaporators, threesuperposed condensers associated therewith, a communicat ing connectionbetween said highest evapo rator and lowest condenser, between said lowest evaporator and said highest condenser, and between said intermediateevaporator and condenser, and liquid seals between said individualevaporators and condensers, the fluids both in said evaporators and insaid condensers flowing gravitationally downwardly.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification.

RAOUL FERDINAND FOLLAIN.

a plurality

